Jan. 11, 2018, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross formally submitted to President Donald J. Trump the results of the department’s investigation into the effect of steel mill product imports on U.S. national security.

After this submission, by law, the president has 90 days to decide on any potential action based on the findings of the investigation.

Once the president’s decision is announced, the department will publish a summary of the report in the Federal Register and make the report available to the public after removing any business confidential or classified material.

“The steel industry welcomes the news that the secretary of Commerce has formally submitted his report to the president in the Section 232 investigation into the impact of steel imports on the national security. We are confident that we have made the case that the repeated surges in steel imports in recent years threaten to impair our national security and we look forward to the president’s decision on the appropriate actions to address this critical situation.”

FCC to build MRF in Houston

The Houston City Council has awardedFCC Environmental Services, The Woodlands,Texas-based American environmental services subsidiary of the Spanish company FCC Group, the contract to design, finance, build and operate a material recovery facility (MRF) that will sort and market the city’s recyclables for 15 years, extendable up to 20 years. The expected contract value is more than $250 million, including the sale of recovered materials from Houston and from third parties, though the cost for the city will not exceed $36.8 million, FCC says.

FCC calls Houston a “strategic enclave,” noting that the city, with its population of some 2.3 million, is the fourth most populated city in the U.S. and will soon be the third, according to growth predictions.

Before the addition of the Houston contract, FCC says its U.S. contracts value $900 million and that it serves more than 8 million Americans.

The company says it has more than 50 facilities that are similar to the one it proposed for the city of Houston, including one near Dallas. The Houston facilities will sit on nearly 15 acres with a footprint in excess of 118,000 square feet.

The Houston plant plans to process 120,000 metric tons per year with a maximum capacity of 145,000 metric tons, FCC says. The processing line will be fully automated and will be equipped with the latest materials separation technologies, according to the company.

“SWANA is disappointed the Chinese government did not modify its waste import restrictions in response to the serious concerns raised by North American, European and Asian governmental authorities and associations,” David Biderman, SWANA executive director and CEO, says. “We support the MEP’s efforts to improve the environment in China, but these extraordinary restrictions are already adversely impacting recycling programs throughout North America.”

SWANA continues to monitor the impacts of the restrictions, which have already been felt across North America. Biderman notes that “recyclables are going to landfills in Oregon, to waste-to-energy facilities in Massachusetts, and being stored in warehouses and parking lots in the U.S. and Canada.”

Many American and Canadian companies and local governments have made substantial changes to their operations in response to the restrictions and the sharp decrease in import licenses issued by Beijing in late 2017 and 2018. Now that the quality standard has been finalized, North American recycling operations must prepare for March 1, 2018, when the contamination standard officially takes effect.

SWANA urges state and local governments to work closely with the private sector and other stakeholders to educate consumers about the need for recyclables to be free from contamination, and encourages operational changes that result in cleaner materials.

SWANA submitted comments to the World Trade Organization in August 2017 and December 2017 asking the Chinese government to delay implementation of its waste import restrictions, seeking clarification on the standards and offering technical assistance on waste- and recycling-related matters.

In response to the publishing of the final Environmental Protection Control Standards for Imports of Solid Wastes as Raw Materials (GB 16487.2-13), which set the allowable contaminants thresholds for scrap imports by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP), the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), Washington, has released the following statement from Robin Wiener, president of the association:

“ISRI is very disappointed to see the Chinese government finalizing its Environmental Protection Control Standards and failing to take the opportunity to bring them in line with global standards that reflect manufacturing requirements and are utilized by environmentally responsible recycling operations in the U.S. and around the world. We continue to be supportive of the Chinese government’s drive to improve the environment in China, but we continue to hope that such support can be realized through collaboration that achieves China’s environmental improvement goals without impairing trade of high quality, specification-grade scrap commodities required by China’s manufacturing sector. ISRI continues to respectfully request an opportunity for dialogue on these critical issues, and obtain a delay in implementation to ensure full compliance.”

McDonald's promises to eliminate foam packaging by 2019

As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy group based in Oakland, California, that promotes social and corporate environmental responsibility, announced Jan. 10 that McDonald’s Corp. has agreed to end the use of harmful polystyrene foam packaging globally by the end of this year following engagement by the organization.

Rarely recycled, expanded polystyrene foam used in beverage cups and takeout containers is a frequent component of beach litter that gets broken down into indigestible pellets, which marine animals mistake for food, resulting in sickness and death, the advocacy group says.

McDonald’s phased out foam cups for hot beverages in the U.S. after engagement with As You Sow in 2012 but continued to use them in foreign markets like Hong Kong and the Philippines. It also continued to use foam for cold beverages and food trays in some U.S. markets.

McDonald’s has posted a statement on its corporate website noting that it plans to eliminate foam packaging from its global system by the end of 2018. The company says that “the environmental impact of our packaging is a top priority” and that eliminating foam is an important step “that will continue to raise the bar for our system and our industry.”

Polystyrene has been widely used for single-use containers across the world for decades, but in recent years its negative environmental and health profile have led major companies to drop it. Its hazardous constituent chemicals have been shown to produce waterborne toxins in a short time frame, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer has determined that styrene, used in the production of polystyrene, is a possible human carcinogen, As You Sow says.

“We congratulate McDonald’s management for removing the last vestiges of polystyrene foam from its global packaging stream,” Conrad MacKerron, senior vice president at As You Sow, says. “This sends an important message to other quick-service food companies who may still be using foam. We also hope McDonald’s will next turn its attention to other single-use items like plastic straws and cup lids that pose hazards to marine animals and add to the tsunami of plastic waste afflicting world oceans.”

Nine countries and more than 100 U.S. cities or counties have banned or restricted foam packaging. Fifteen major brands including Coca-Cola Co, Danone, Dow Chemical, L’Oreal, Marks & Spencer, Mars, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Unilever recommended replacement of polystyrene foam as a packaging material in a report released in 2017 by the New Plastics Economy Project of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

As You Sow refiled its shareholder proposal for 2018 but intends to withdraw it based on this action by the company.